First off, I know you’re not a doctor and this isn’t medical advise. Second, this could be GQ but I also want opinions, so it goes in IMHO. Third, I’m going to a doctor soon, but I want to be able to come back here and announce who guessed right and who guessed wrong. Now then…
I’ve been having wrist pain for some years. It started in the Army in 2003. I can’t bend my wrists all the way back and can only make it to 45 degrees or so with my fingers extended. With my fingers curled, there’s no limit to dorsal motion. The opposite is true with ventral motion. I can’t bend my fist forward at all but can with my fingers extended.
I have jelly-like lumps on both wrists, centered over my lunate bones. They change size and shape daily according to activity. I can press and knead them without pain, unless I’m trying to hurt myself, in which case I can. I can feel the pain up to about 2 inches up my forearm. It feels sore.
When I move my wrists to extreme angles and move them back, they pop. It’s not a crack or a snap, just a dull pop like bones or ligaments are sorting themselves out. I don’t know how normal that is, but I can do it several times in a row.
Lastly, I wake up with sore, stiff wrists that fade away in a half hour or so. I have lost strength in my grip, but that seems to be psychosomatic as it only happens when I think about it.
Your choices are:
Dorsal ganglions
Keinbock’s disease
Tenosynovitis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Dorsal ganglions: The jelly lumps are the key here. I’ve been diagnosed with it once before and had it aspirated. But wouldn’t the ganglion be off to the side, not centered on the wrist? Also, would it really limit motion and cause stiffness in the mornings and sore tendons? What about the popping?
Keinbock’s disease: The swelling is over the lunate bones. Also, it started in the Army and repetitive dorsal compression (pushups) is a risk factor. I have limited motion, but it seems to be tendon-related, not bone related. Also, keinbock’s is simply rarer than ganglions. But it explains the soreness and stiffness and pain up into my forearm- but only two inches?
Tenosynovitis: Explains why my tendons are sore. But there’s no pain at the base of the thumb, just my middle and index finger tendons. Also, what would cause that? My long commute to work in an old, rumbling car?
Arthritis: Explains the aching and stiffness in the mornings and the popping. But my joints don’t ache all day in a dull way. It’s a soreness if I push on the tendons. Does it explain the pain at extreme wrist positions?
So, Doper (armchair) Docs, your thoughts?